Posts (page 2)

• Read everything you can. Fiction. Biographies. Articles. Non-Fiction. Screenplays. Poetry. Grab it all as if it won’t be here tomorrow, though it likely will.

• Begin to build an extensive library of primarily used books. Collect more art and photography books as well. Organize them by color schemes, autobiographically, or chronologically. Enjoy the organizational process.

• Stay on schedule with the reading schedule in the syllabus of each class. Do your notes. Do not, I repeat, do not fall behind and then be forced to spend an entire week at the end of the semester catching up on 100’s of pages of reading and notes. You’ll learn more if you stay on track.

• Drink more water. Drink less Coca-Cola Classic. Take your Nalgene bottle with you when you leave the house.

• Keep a clean room. Living in a clean space is a healthy practice.

• Attempt to write down one main thought or idea from each day in your Moleskine. Maybe it’s only a word. Maybe a complete thought. This will be interesting to look at at the end of each month and at the end of the year.

• Keep adding quotes to your digital Post-It notes on your desktop. Readdress them regularly.

• Switch from a digital calendar to analogue. Maybe this one. Pen and paper are so much more faithful than a computer. They are always there, whether electricity is or not.

• Eat at home much, much more. Plan a weekly or bi-weekly food budget, go to Trader Joe’s, buy the food, and quit eating out so much. You can’t afford to eat at Chipotle 4 times a week.

• Eat at Chipotle every week.

• Explore more of the Pacific Northwest. Go camping in the Cascades and the Olympics. Discover for yourself Oregon, Washington, and Canada. Take trips with friends and take your time.

• Learn to hold the Scriptures well. Don’t succumb to the lie that you must read large amounts of it every day. Take in as little or as much as you like.

• Keep blogging because you love to write and create. Don’t let it be something it shouldn’t. Find inspiration in others and pass it on.

• Let prayer find its place in your day. There is space for it.

• Go to the movie theater as much as you can afford. Find truth in everything. Be moved by story.

• Remember that you’re going to be ok.

• Go to Scotland in May. Learn between now and then how to photograph a wedding, ignore most of it, and then shoot it the way you want to. Portray beauty without the cliché. Tell the story without words.

• Do not let your Macintosh, iPod, Nikon, lenses, and textbooks get stolen out of the front seat of your friend’s car.

• Be honest in your therapy sessions. Try not to plan out how the hour will go beforehand. Let it happen as it should.

• Remember that you are not in control.

• Take more Polaroids.

• Shoot more film. Let the authenticity run through your veins.

• Learn how to memorize parts of the Scriptures. It’s value is immeasurable. Don’t memorize it to throw it at people, because after you throw it at them you’ll probably throw up a little, and they will be angry and disgusted. Rather, memorize it to transform your soul. Let the truths sink in.

• Go running at the very least every week. Do it as often as you can.

• Continue to do your best at understanding light. Capturing it in a camera is a beautiful process.

• Interpret more. Go to more small gallery showings. Don’t just go to see photography. Explore other forms of art.

• Learn to cook. You can’t eat pasta every single evening. Well, you can, but you shouldn’t. Plus, you will be more likely to get a date if you can cook. Girls like that.

• Go on at least 3 dates. This may seem to be a low number, but let’s set low, attainable standards. Happiness will ensue.

• Start a series of photographs of furniture in odd, abandoned places. Use photoshop less and less. Set up your shots with care and be mindful of your exposures.

• Set up an online portfolio, both to show your work and to sell large prints to help with tuition.

• Put your cape back on.

• Meet Jake, Maggie, and Dylan Camara in person. Don’t let Dylan talk down to you about your love of all things Wendy’s and fast food. You’re 24. He’s 2. You can take him.

• Do not spend most of your time in class browsing the internet. Listen to your professors and fellow classmates. You’ll learn more from them than from blogs and social networks.

• Listen well. Be present in your conversations.

• If you can, find a Hasselblad 500cm at a thrift store. Or find someone who has one and doesn’t want it. Then find out what you can do for them to obtain the camera without paying $1000. Maybe use newly learned cooking skills.

• Find space to breathe. Slow down. Rest. Wait. And hope.

• Create. Create. Create.

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